Deuteronomy 21:8
in Deuteronomy 21Accept this atonement, O LORD, for Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.” And the bloodshed will be atoned for.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Forgive, O Jehovah, thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and suffer not innocent blood to remain in the midst of thy people Israel. And the blood shall be forgiven them.
KJV
Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel’s charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 21
Commentary
5 notes on this verseForgiven - Though there was no mortal guilt in this people, yet there was a ceremonial uncleanness in the land, which was to be expiated and forgiven.
This site's exposition
shall wash their hands over
on Deuteronomy 21:6-9
The elders wash their hands over the beheaded heifer and say in the hearing of the priests that their hands have not shed this blood, neither have their eyes seen it. Psalm 26:6 uses the same picture for innocence, and Matthew 27:24 has Pilate wash his hands before the crowd and call himself innocent of the blood of Christ. Matthew Henry points out that Pilate had the words without the case, since he knew the man before him was innocent and sentenced him anyway. The prayer of verse 8 asks mercy for the whole people rather than for the elders, and the answer is that the blood shall be forgiven them, though nobody in that town did the killing.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Be merciful, O Lord, to thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed,....
This indulgence of men's inordinate desires, in which their hearts walked after their eyes, is by no means agreeable to the law of Christ, which therefore in this respect, among others, far exceeds in glory the law of Moses. The gospel permits not him that has one wife to take another, for from the beginning it was not so.
God being Israel's King, his ministers must be their magistrates, and by their word, as the mouth of the court and learned in the laws, every controversy must be tried. It was Israel's privilege that they had such guides, overseers, and rulers, and their duty to make use of them upon all occasions, especially in sacred things, as this was.
The words behind it
16 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כַּפֵּר֩ | kaper | make atonement | H3722 → | 102 times |
| לְעַמְּךָ֨ | leamekha | for people your | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֤ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| אֲשֶׁר־ | ʾasher- | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| פָּדִ֙יתָ֙ | padita | you ransomed | H6299 → | 59 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וְאַל־ | veal- | and may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| תִּתֵּן֙ | titen | you put | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| דָּ֣ם | dam | blood | H1818 → | 360 times |
| נָקִ֔י | naki | innocent | H5355 → | 43 times |
| בְּקֶ֖רֶב | bekerev | in [the] midst of | H7130 → | 227 times |
| עַמְּךָ֣ | ʾamekha | people your | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| וְנִכַּפֵּ֥ר | venikkaper | and it will be atoned for | H3722 → | 102 times |
| לָהֶ֖ם | lahem | for <the> them | ||
| הַדָּֽם׃ | hadam | the blood | H1818 → | 360 times |
כַּפֵּר֩make atonement
kaperH3722 →102 times
לְעַמְּךָ֨for people your
leamekhaH5971 →1873 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֤לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
אֲשֶׁר־which
ʾasher-H834 →5497 times
פָּדִ֙יתָ֙you ransomed
paditaH6299 →59 times
יְהוָ֔הO Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
וְאַל־and may not
veal-H408 →724 times
תִּתֵּן֙you put
titenH5414 →2011 times
דָּ֣םblood
damH1818 →360 times
נָקִ֔יinnocent
nakiH5355 →43 times
בְּקֶ֖רֶבin [the] midst of
bekerevH7130 →227 times
עַמְּךָ֣people your
ʾamekhaH5971 →1873 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
וְנִכַּפֵּ֥רand it will be atoned for
venikkaperH3722 →102 times
לָהֶ֖םfor <the> them
lahem
הַדָּֽם׃the blood
hadamH1818 →360 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 19:12Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.
it leads to
- Psalms 90:8
You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
- Psalms 139:23–24
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.
- Job 6:24
Teach me, and I will be silent. Help me understand how I have erred.
- Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
- Psalms 40:12
For evils without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed within me.
- Psalms 90:8
Through
Jonah 1:14So they cried out to the LORD: “Please, O LORD, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life! Do not charge us with innocent blood! For You, O LORD, have done…
it leads to
- Psalms 115:3
Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases.
- Psalms 135:6
The LORD does all that pleases Him in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and in all their depths.
- Ephesians 1:11
In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
- Psalms 115:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.